


For Services Rendered Afterthoughts

by BunnyBean



Series: For Services Rendered [2]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Reality, Drabbles, F/M, Romance, Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-11
Updated: 2012-10-11
Packaged: 2017-11-16 02:19:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 18,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyBean/pseuds/BunnyBean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of extra scenes from my AR fic For Services Rendered. Mostly drabbles - some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each chapter will be a separate self-contained scene.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One - Ten Years Ago

**Author's Note:**

> I would recommend reading For Services Rendered first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**One - Ten Years Ago**

* * *

_Ten years ago in Tokyo..._

Ryuzaki Sakuno (12 years old) has fallen into a very awkward position. Is it possible to safely get off at the next station?

What do I do?

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! You idiots still don't know the rules for gripping! To hit the top spin it's the western grip, ya know? I'm telling you, keep the racquet like this and hold it like you're shaking hands."

"OH! Of course Sasabe is different!"

"Stupid! This is common sense!"

Sakuno cowered out of the way as the racquet once again flew quickly past her face. WHOOSH, WHOOOSH, WHOOOSH went the air around her.

"Yo, can't you keep it down?"

Ah...? Sakuno looked up in surprise at the cute boy her age across the aisle that had spoken to the older boys on the train. WOW. What a cool guy! How had she missed seeing him across the way until now?

Was he saving her from these boys?

She watched the older boy startle and lose his grip on the racquet. It clattered onto the floor of the train for a second. Embarrassed, the older boy bent over and picked it up.

"Bingo! Holding the upper part of the racquet and clamping it, that's the correct western grip," The boy across the way added.

Sakuno stared across the way at the boy, instantly impressed. She didn't know much about tennis, but it  _sounded_ impressive. Ah, and now that she was really looking at the boy, he did have a large tennis bag sitting next to him on the bench.

As the older boy stood back up with the racquet back in his hand, the boy her age across the way spoke up yet again, "Another thing. The thing you said about "shaking hands"? That's the eastern grip. It's common, for people to learn it the opposite way."

The friends of the older boy started laughing and teasing him as the train pulled to a stop and announced the station they'd arrived at. Distracted, Sakuno watched the older boys exit the train, and then looked back at the boy sitting across the way. He'd pulled his cap down, and was slouching in his seat.

The station was announced a final time, and Sakuno realized it was her exit. Horrified that she'd allowed herself to get so caught up in the commotion on the train that she'd almost missed her stop, she shot to her feet and rushed towards the door. As she ran past the boy, they briefly locked eyes, and he gave her a slight wink.

She'd already stepped off the train on onto the platform as she'd realized what had just happened, and she spun around to look at the boy again, thinking the wink had to have been her imagination. The doors closed shut. She took a step towards the direction the train was traveling, trying to get a final glimpse of the boy through the windows, and finally spotted the back of his head. The train started to move and she was suddenly overcome with a desire to run after the train, to stay with that boy, to follow him to wherever it was that he was going. Unconsciously, her steps followed along as the train began to pick up it's pace, and just as the boy was about to leave her view completely, his head turned around and looked back at her.

_Startled hazel eyes met startled brown, and then, just like that, he was gone._

Sakuno slumped against one of the support pillars in the station, and wondered when her grandmother would arrive to pick her up. Now, more than ever, she was excited about learning more about tennis.

_Maybe one day, she'd see that tennis prince from the train again._


	2. Two - Sa-chan's Hair

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Two - Sa-chan's Hair**

* * *

_Seventeen years ago in Tokyo..._

Echizen Ryoma was five years old when he realized that Sa-chan's hair was too long.

He'd been working diligently on his tennis all the time, the same as he'd always done his whole life. The highlights were the days when Sa-chan came over to his house to play with him. Even though in reality she was over at least a few times a week, their partings always seemed to last forever. There was always so much new stuff he needed to teach her!

It was really simple actually. As soon as they were big enough they would get married. That way she wouldn't have to keep leaving all the time to go back to her house. She could just stay with him all the time.  _Then they could practice tennis more._

Sa-chan still had lots to work on.

Ryoma bounced the tennis ball against the ground, swung his racquet and hit it towards Sa-chan again and watched her frantically wobble after it  _again_. Swing and miss it  _again_. Trip and fall over  _again_. Get back up and run after it with her wobbly hips,  _again_.

They weren't even volleying over the net yet. What was he going to do with this girl of his?

Turning back to him with the tennis ball in one hand, and her racquet dangling precariously in the other, Ryoma worried that she would drop her racquet,  _again_.

"Ryooooo-kuuuuuuuun!" Sa-chan wailed.

Uh oh.

Ryoma watched in horror as the young girl burst into tears and slumped onto the ground, the ends of her braids resting in the dirt around her. Well,  _that_  hadn't happened yet. His chest felt tight with pain as he watched her for a second, crying there in the dirt, and then he rushed over. Setting his racquet down on the ground next to her, he knelt down and wrapped his small arms around her. She returned his hug, her wails only increasing in volume.

_What was she crying for?_  Sa-chan, despite being a girl, wasn't much of a crybaby. Usually she would only cry if it was a really, really big deal. Missing the ball,  _again_ , wasn't a big deal, it was...normal.  _For her._

"Sa-chan, don't cry!" He begged. He took a deep breath and ran a hand down one of her long brown braids. Ugh. His chest was really hurting. She needed to stop crying!  _Didn't she know how much his chest hurt when she would cry?_

Sa-chan took a gasping wheezing gulp of air, and sniffed her nose before whining, "Ryo-kun! I'm never going to be good at tennis like Ryo-kun! Ryo-kun will leave me for another tennis partner to go win Wimbledon." Sniff...sniff...sniff.

Was that all? Silly girl! Who said anything about being his doubles partner? He was going to play singles just like his dad!  _Duh!_

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma said.

Sa-chan's wails only increased as she sobbed out her agreement, "I know!"

"I'm going to play singles like my dad did."

Sa-chan stopped crying for a second and then burst into a fresh round of tears, as she protested, "But...but...Ryo-kun said we would be together forever and ever!"

Ryoma rolled his eyes. He pulled his arms away from Sa-chan and grabbed her right cheek in his left hand, squeezing it out to the side.

"EEEEOOOOKUUU da WOOLY" Sa-chan protested despite her stretched out mouth as she tried to pull Ryoma's hand away from her cheek.

"What's that?" Ryoma asked, as he continued stretching her cheek out to the side and watched as her expression quickly changed from tears to anger. With it, the pain in his chest started subsiding as well. He took a deep breath again, all to happy that the strange chest pain was going away.

"EEEEOOOKUUU WOOOOLY!" She struggled to say.

"I'm a what?" Ryoma asked as he finally dropped her cheek and watched it snap back into it's proper position.

"Ryo-kun! You bully!" Sa-chan accused for the third time as she rubbed her cheek and gave him a glare of irritation.

Ryoma snickered in satisfaction.

_She wasn't crying anymore._

He leaned his face in close until their noses were touching, and meeting her still slightly watery eyes he said, "Sa-chan will still come with me everywhere. You will be my cheerleader."

Sa-chan turned her face away, and pouted, "Ryo-kun's cheerleader? I refuse!"

Ryoma smirked. Who was she kidding? She would definitely be his cheerleader! What else would she be? He watched her eyes watching him as he dropped his bottom to the ground, propped up his elbow on his knee and leaned his head into his hand. He looked up at the clouds in feigned boredom for a second and then back at Sa-chan.

She was looking at him wide-eyed, and with a smirk, he jumped at her, knocking her over. The two rolled around on the ground for a few seconds as Sa-chan screeched in protest and Ryoma laughed at her as he began to tickle her sides.

"Sssssstop!" Sa-chan pleaded between giggles.

Ryoma continued to tickle her relentlessly, and Sa-chan squirmed under him, laughing uncontrollably. "Ryo-kuuuun!" She protested yet again.

Ryoma stopped for a second. "Be my cheerleader," He demanded.

"No!" Sa-chan said, shaking her head.

He tickled her again and she screamed out in protest.

"Be my cheerleader."

"Ya-ya-yada!"

Ryoma stopped again, and leaning his face into hers again, he fluttered a butterfly kiss across her lips as the girl beneath him froze.

Pulling his face away from her, he took in her surprised eyes and slightly open mouth and resisted from rolling his eyes at her again.  _She acted like he'd never kissed her before._

Finally, she cracked a glowing smile at him and said, "I will always go with Ryo-kun everywhere Ryo-kun goes."

Ryoma felt the familiar swelling sensation in his chest that he always felt when she looked at him like that, and he said, "I know."

She giggled and he snickered again for a second before getting up off of her and holding out a hand to help her get back up on her feet again. He watched the ends of her twin braids drag on the ground as she stood up and added, "Besides, your hair is too long."

Sa-chan released his hand and gave him another glare,  _"My hair is too long for what?"_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine this is blatantly obvious, but just in case:
> 
> Ryo-kun = Echizen Ryoma
> 
> Sa-chan = Ryuzaki Sakuno
> 
> In this drabble they were both five years old, living in Tokyo and the setting was the temple where Ryoma lives in the anime/manga.
> 
> Yada = I don't want to and/or I don't like it. It's slang, and similarly to mada mada dane doesn't really translate very well. My Japanese little sister would say it a lot and for the expression I literally think it in Japanese and have no direct English translation for the idea yada conveys.


	3. Three - Tomoka's Hope

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Three - Tomoka's Hope**

* * *

_Six years ago in Tokyo..._

It wasn't until they were sixteen that Osakada Tomoka finally found a ray of hope in her supremely challenged unromantic best friend forever Ryuzaki Sakuno.

See, the problem was that Sakuno wasn't interested in boys. It wasn't like she was interested in girls either, it was more like the girl just had zero interest in romance all together. She couldn't even get Sakuno to check out cute guys with her! It was her greatest character flaw. Weren't girls supposed to get all boy crazy and giggly over boys together? Wasn't that like a right of passage for young girls? Why was her best friend so  _deficient_  in this one area?

The worst part of it was that boys liked Sakuno a lot. Not only was Sakuno oblivious to this fact, even when Tomoka would tell her, Sakuno just  _didn't care._  She'd go on this rant about how she wasn't going to even bother with dating until she was ready to get married, and how boys were great and all as friends, but in a romantic way, she wasn't interested in them right now. Blah, blah, blah.

Oh, those poor boys.

Sakuno had some prime picks too, ones that even made her slightly jealous of her best friend forever, like the cute senpai on the tennis team. They were always teaching Sakuno their special moves, offering to help her with her studies, and all the other things boys would do to get the time and attention of a girl they were interested in. Sakuno wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she'd take the opportunities to learn, but her lack of reciprocal romantic interest left a wake of disheartened guys in Sakuno's wake.

As far as Tomoka was concerned, it was downright  _criminal_.

She needed to find a man for Sakuno and get her out of the minds of all these boys that kept getting utterly defeated by her impenetrable lack of romantic interest. This goal of hers had been an ongoing mission for the last few years, and despite the drop dead number of sexy guys Tomoka had flung into her friend's path, Sakuno hadn't even so much as batted an eye or flushed briefly over any of them.

How was she so immune? It was unnatural, wasn't it?

It was a surprise then when one day while the girls were holed up in Sakuno's house in the summer watching Wimbledon that Tomoka finally got a ray of hope.

Sakuno had been playing tennis with the school team since they'd been first years in middle school. On their first day of school, Sakuno had told Tomoka she was going to join the team. Tomoka had thought that made a lot of sense for Sakuno since her grandmother was the coach of their school's famous boy's team. Tomoka had enjoyed the access to the cute tennis regulars being Sakuno's friend gave her. Despite Sakuno's lack of interest in romance, the girl was vastly interested in tennis, cooking and all her other hobbies, so it had been a routine for the two of them to watch the big tournaments like Wimbledon together.

That year when they'd turned sixteen, there was a Japanese teenager that lived in the USA playing men's singles matches that was gaining international attention. According to the background features he'd been playing tennis his whole life, his father had been a professional tennis player and he'd been competing in the junior's divisions of the main tournaments for the past few years. He'd finally begun entering into the adult level tournaments that year and he was making a huge splash on the professional tennis scene.

Tomoka already had a boyfriend, but even she was completely taken in by this new tennis player that was the same age as them. It had brought new meaning to her on watching Wimbledon and other tennis tournaments. What a hot guy! He was a genuine prodigy too, so his playing was amazing to watch as well. Tomoka, personally, was thrilled. She would be his number one fan! For always! Always, always, always!

So it was much to Tomoka's astonishment when during the finals match her romance deficient completely uninterested in boys best friend forever had suddenly gushed out, "Echizen Ryoma-kun is so coooooool!"

Tomoka's head had whipped from the television screen to Sakuno's face so quickly it may have induced whiplash. She took in her friend's flushed cheeks, glowing starry eyes and dropped her teacup in shock!

As the girls had both scrambled to wipe up the hot mess of her spilled green tea, Tomoka had realized the moment for what it truly was, and nearly wept in relief.

Sakuno finally  _liked_  a boy!

Echizen Ryoma-sama, huh? Well, now she needed to find boys that looked like him or worst case scenario, somehow get her BFF in touch with the budding tennis star.

Otherwise, at this rate, Sakuno would never get married.


	4. Four - Tomoka's Eternal Frustration

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Four - Tomoka's Eternal Frustration**

* * *

_Five years ago in Tokyo..._

It was when they were seventeen that Osakada Tomoka finally decided that enough was enough.

Echizen Ryoma-sama was the bane of her existence.

Why did the tennis star have to be  _literally_  the only guy on the planet capable of catching the attention of her BFF Ryuzaki Sakuno? WHY?  _Why why why why why why why?_

It had been over a year since Tomoka had caught Sakuno's moment. The moment when she had blushed over the tennis prince Echizen Ryoma on the television screen. Since then, Tomoka had tried over and over and over again to throw guys with similar traits Sakuno's way, only to be met with complete immunity to their charms.

_It was frustrating beyond all reason._

To add insult to injury, when she'd finally decided to give up on the prospect of interesting Sakuno in other boys and had decided to remind her friend subtlety about the tennis prince's existence, Sakuno had already forgotten Echizen Ryoma. No...really. It was amazing, but somehow over the last year Sakuno had changed her tennis obsession energies into ramen obsession energies. Her free time and thoughts were completely consumed with making future plans to become a ramen chef after their high school graduation next year. She hadn't even watched any of the tennis tournaments this year, so she hadn't even seen Ryoma-sama since last year when they first saw him playing at Wimbledon! It was  _insanely poor timing_  for Sakuno's interest in tennis to wane.

Tomoka's ray of hope had morphed into a moment of darkness when she had glimpsed a side of Sakuno that she was beginning to doubt really existed.

Maybe she had imagined it? In retrospect, maybe Sakuno had really only been impressed with the tennis moves, and not the boy himself?

Ah, but that blush and those glowing shining eyes...could it have really not been a look of admiration?

She'd tried, really, really tried. Pictures, videos, comments, everything. She was continuously trying to get Sakuno to just LOOK at the tennis prince again, to remind Sakuno that there was a guy out there, that she liked, but it was hopeless. Sakuno wouldn't even spare the pictures or videos a glance, and as Tomoka would wax enthusiastic to her friend about Ryoma-sama, Sakuno would nod her head, and her eyes would get the faraway look in them indicating to Tomoka that her friend wasn't really listening.

Finally, Tomoka decided enough was enough. She'd tried this the easy way, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

One way, or another, she needed to get Sakuno to meet Echizen Ryoma face to face.


	5. Five - There Was Just Something About Japan...

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Five - There Was Just Something About Japan...**

* * *

_Four years ago in Tokyo..._

Echizen Ryoma found himself once again, back in his home country in his home city, Tokyo. He'd been born there, and he knew he'd lived with his family at some temple here in Tokyo until he was five, but he didn't really remember it. He didn't really think about it much though, to be honest.

Over the years of living in the United States, his family had made the trip to Japan on occasion for visits and Ryoma had always enjoyed his home country. There was just something about Japan. He couldn't really put his finger on it, but something always compelled him to stay there. He continued to leave because he had lots of tennis matches to win still, but one of these days, he was going to figure out what it was about Japan and he'd probably move there. After all, he was eighteen years old now. By most of the world's standards that made him a full-fledged adult. Didn't that mean he was old enough to have his own place?

Coming back to the present, Ryoma shook his head to clear his thoughts and get back to the task at hand. Honestly, what a weird place to have some life changing epiphany. In a grocery store in Japan of all places!  _That made him feel incredibly lame._

Of course, that was when it hit him all over again...

Why his thoughts had taken the course they had about Japan, adulthood and his future.

_It was the young woman in the produce section._  If Ryoma had to profile her, he would say she was the same age as he was, and he had no idea why she, or any female really, had managed to capture his attention, but somehow this woman had. She had ridiculously long wavy brown hair, that rippled down her back in what looked like super soft waves. His fingers had instantly twitched in an almost uncontrollable urge to touch them. Her eyes were a pretty cinnamon color and she focused them intently on her task of picking each vegetable as she casually made her way from one end of the fresh produce area to the other. Ryoma was overcome with desire to capture her attention and see how her eyes would look if they were focused on him.

It wasn't really his way to talk to girls, or have any interest in them whatsoever, but maybe it was time at eighteen in this country that seemed to always have something special about it for him to do something...different.

As he'd taken his first step forward, his manager had joined him at his side, halting his progress, "Ah, Ryoma. I couldn't find the - what did you call it?"

"Onigiri," Ryoma supplied the word his manager was searching for as he kept his eyes focused on the woman selecting her vegetables.

"Oni-what?"

"Onigiri."

A big sigh, "Well, whatever it is you call it, I couldn't find them, but there's a deli that can make some sandwiches."

Ryoma flickered his eyes away from the woman for a minute to look at his current manager. He'd been the third one so far this year, and that didn't count all the ones he'd had before, ever since he'd gone pro at sixteen.

He just never really liked any of them, and the ones he'd been able to tolerate had all deserted him claiming frustration over dealing with him.

This current guy...Michael, he was all right, though he kind-of protested Ryoma's support of tennis in Japan, and the free exhibition matches Ryoma was always going there to do at Ariake Coliseum. Now that they were in Japan, Michael was getting more and more annoying with his lack of respect for all things Japanese. It was really... _not cool._

"The last thing I want to eat when I'm in Japan is western food," Ryoma said, repeating his instructions to his manager for the third time since their arrival. Seriously, every meal had to be an argument with this guy! Was it really so hard for this American to eat some Japanese food in Japan for a few days? Ryoma turned his attention back to the young woman, fully expecting Michael to go off on another onigiri mission.

Instead his manager's eyes had followed Ryoma's interested gaze and his jaw had dropped in shock. Hitting Ryoma's shoulder he'd exclaimed, "Are you actually checking out  _a girl?"_

Ryoma's irritation had instantly increased about 200 percent. _Could Michael have announced it to the whole store any louder?_

"Of course not," He scoffed.

Michael had laughed, "Well, she looks hot to me! Pretty little thing. I'd love to take her back to the hotel and  _get to know her_."

Ryoma once again looked away from the girl to glance at his manager. What. The. Hell. Who did he think he was to say something like that? The idea, of anyone else...touching that girl...

And then, Ryoma made an impulsive decision, "Michael. You're fired."

_"What?"_  Michael had exclaimed, his face clearly shocked.

Hell, Ryoma was feeling a little surprised as well, but really...he shouldn't have run his mouth off about  _her_...

"Two weeks severance, and I'll pay for your plane ticket home. Get out of here."

"What the hell, Ryoma?" Michael yelled.

Ryoma's jaw twitched as his eyes narrowed. Other people in the store had started to look at them, the girl Ryoma had been watching included. She had her big cinnamon eyes focused on him, and she worried her lower lip between her teeth.

He really wanted to talk to her.  _She was even prettier when she was looking at him._

Michael threw his hands up, getting Ryoma's attention once again, "Fine. You know what? You're a pain in the ass to work with anyways! Have fun finding another manager willing to take you on after all this, kid. Just because you're the world champion doesn't mean you can get away with treating all your managers like crap."

Ryoma watched Michael stomp off and instantly felt relief. He turned his gaze back to the produce section, but the girl was gone.

He rubbed his eyes, thinking maybe he just hadn't seen her, but nope...she really wasn't there anymore.

Quickly, he strode through the produce section, checking for her, and then frantically searched each aisle for her. She had to still be here, right?

Finally, he exited the store, and looked around outside, but somehow, she'd disappeared on him and he's missed his chance.

_Dammit._

Reaching into his pocket, Ryoma pulled his cell phone out and hit the speed dial for his mother.

"Hi Ryoma," His mother had answered right away.

"Mom...I fired Michael. Can you make sure he gets two weeks severance pay and reimbursed for his plane ticket back to the states?"

"Ooooo...kaaaay..."

He could tell she wanted to say more, but was purposely keeping it to herself.  _He hated it when she did that._  "Find a new manager. I guess, call up the company."

"Actually, your father's old middle school coach recommended a former student of hers that just graduated high school to be your manager to us the other day. Since you're in Tokyo right now, we could probably arrange for you to meet with him while you're there."

"Fine."  _It wasn't like he had anything better to do in Japan, now that he'd lost that girl._ Maybe having a Japanese manager that was his age would solve most of his problems he was having with all these guys from the company in the USA.

"Also...Ryoma...I think maybe it's time you start managing your money yourself, you're eighteen now after all."

"Whatever, I'll do it then."

"You should find a cute girl in Japan."

_Now she was just pushing it._

_"MOM!"_

"Okay, okay, forget I said anything  _about the g-word._  We'll see you when you come home."

"Bye Mom."

"Bye."

Feeling a bit like a kid and also a bit like an adult, Ryoma took in a deep breath of the fresh sea air there in the area near Ariake Coliseum and dropped his phone back into his pocket.

That girl was at the local grocery store, so she  _probably_  lived near by and he was here fairly often for matches. _Maybe he'd run into her again someday._


	6. Six - Tomoka's Mission

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Six - Tomoka's Mission**

* * *

_Four years ago in Tokyo..._

Osakada Tomoka was finally feeling like all her hard work and maneuvering for the sake of her best friend's future love life was starting to bear fruit.

Now it all came down to Echizen Ryoma.

Why Sakuno had no interest in any man except for the prodigy tennis champion, Tomoka simply did not know. All she knew was that for Sakuno, there had only been one second her friend had ever even given her a glimpse of having romantic interest in _anybody_. So it seemed like it had to be Ryoma-sama or nothing.

Well, Tomoka would never settle for nothing. Her best friend was better than that and she deserved the happiness of finding her one true love.

Even if it was so extreme that she couldn't even LOOK at another man. Tomoka had come to terms with that quite a while ago, and had accepted Sakuno, just as she is.

_Echizen Ryoma wouldn't know what hit him._

During their second year of high school, Tomoka had given the matter quite a lot of thought. After much deliberation she had determined that besides somehow convincing Sakuno to go to tennis tournaments all over the world and relying on the unlikelihood of a chance encounter that her best option for getting Ryoma-sama to meet Sakuno would be through mutual acquaintance. In theory, it could be as simple as making friends with his family or his manager. The people that were within his core group of people he interacted with.

Through much study on the tennis prince's life, she'd made a peculiar discovery. Ryoma-sama's father had been a student at their middle school. Additionally, Sakuno's grandmother and Ryoma-sama's father were old friends.

_Well, if that wasn't a golden opportunity worth exploiting, Tomoka didn't know what would be._

Thus, she had worked diligently for over a year to exploit it.

Her plan had all started with her boyfriend Horio Satoshi. Satoshi loved tennis. LOVED it. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't as good at it as he liked to talk that he was. What he was good at though, was talking, making deals and organizing things. From these observations on her boyfriend her mind had created a perfect little seed that she had promptly planted into Satoshi's brain.

When discussion came up about what they would do with their lives, Tomoka had suggested to Satoshi that he seriously consider being a sports manager and publicist. She had further sold it to him by mentioning he consider focusing on tennis. She'd given him the goal of reaching high for the top seeded ATP world tour competitors. Then she'd sealed the deal by giving him the hope he needed that it was all possible by mentioning to him that his former coach and her best friend's grandmother was friends with the current number one professional tennis player Echizen Ryoma's father.

Satoshi had jumped at the idea, and run with it.  _As if by magic, and not by her interference it had all played out even better than her wildest fantasy._  Not long after their high school graduation, Sakuno's grandmother had given her promised recommendation to Ryoma-sama's father. Within a week, Satoshi had called her up to tell her his excited news, that he was on his way to meet his tennis hero, Echizen Ryoma for a job interview. Tomoka had given it her blessing, and put all the hopes in her heart for her friends future romantic happiness upon Satoshi's ability to get close to Ryoma-sama and then somehow get his path to cross with Sakuno's path.

It was...her greatest wish, and she knew somewhere in her heart of hearts that it would someday be her greatest accomplishment.

It was her mission of a lifetime.


	7. Seven - She Had No Idea

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Seven - She Had No Idea**

* * *

_Present day...in Melbourne, During the Australian Open_

Echizen Ryoma lounged in his hotel suite after day one of the Australian Open. There was nothing very unusual about that really, it was his seventh Australian Open after all, and he'd lounged in his hotel suite in Melbourne, year after year. As the top seeded player he'd played his first match of the two week long grand slam tournament that very day, and won, of course. So now he was doing what he usually did after a big tournament day, relaxing.

What was unusual about this year was the woman lying down on his bed across the room from him. He'd never had a woman in his room for one. He'd never had a woman on his bed in his room for two. He'd never had a girlfriend for three. He'd never had a girlfriend declare to the whole world that she would stay by his side and support his tennis carrier even with marriage and babies and make his chest burn up with molten fire before either.

Ryuzaki Sakuno was all those things and more. Oh, so much more. She was the first woman that he had ever spent a considerable amount of time with. Not to mention it had been time spent willingly. She was the first female he'd ever thought about kissing and touching, and oh, she was the first one he had literally kissed and touched as well.

He wanted to do so much more to her too. It was the oddest thing, that she had awoken this completely new part of himself. It had been buried inside of him so deeply, that he never even knew existed. These feelings of possession, need, desire, passion and protectiveness.

He wanted it all and  _that_  was beyond startling.

_After all, he'd only known the woman for a little over two weeks._

There was something about Sakuno though. Something wonderful, compelling, and comforting. Being with her was the most natural thing in the world to him. Wanting her by his side constantly somehow didn't seem strange like it should, it felt...normal.

_She didn't get it._

Sakuno was certainly very much under the impression that their relationship was nothing but pure fabrication. He'd made her an offer and made it next to impossible for her to refuse it. He'd quickly changed the arrangement from outward fantasy to inward reality. Maybe an hour after they'd made their agreement, he'd kissed her. Even though they'd been alone, even though they'd had no audience to convince or impress upon that their relationship was real, they'd kissed and touched each other for what had seemed like hours.

It hadn't stopped there either. They'd kissed more the next morning, both in private as well as with an audience and from there, they had continued their level of private intimacies.

_It was...intoxicating._

Ryoma didn't know how the girl hadn't realized yet that he didn't view any part of their relationship as fake or for appearances.

_From the second he'd first kissed her, it had all been real, and every action of his had been genuine._

Oh, but he wanted more. He wanted more and he wanted it to be real for her too. All of it, not just with her body, but with her mind and her heart as well because  _one of these days, it would be time._

It would be time for them to move to the next level and when that time came, he wanted to do it right and ask her to marry him. If he was going to do this, it was going to be forever, and it would be with Sakuno or nobody. He knew it in every fiber of his being.  _When that time came,_  he wanted to make sure this beautiful, amazing woman would say yes, and not because of his money, or fame, or smarts, or good looks, but because _she would be so desperately crazy in love with him._  He would make sure of it.

_She had no idea._


	8. Eight - Accounting

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Eight - Accounting**

* * *

_Present day...in Rotterdam, During the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament_

Twenty-two year old world tennis champion Echizen Ryoma looked across their breakfast table in their hotel suite at his girlfriend and figured now was as good of a time as any to bring this up.

"Sakuno, I have a job for you."

Her focus shifted from her fresh fruit bowl to Ryoma's eyes and she tilted her head to the side in curiosity, "A job?"

"I want you to take over running my finances."

Sakuno furrowed her forehead and set down her fork, "Wait. You want me to do what?"

"You know...run my books. Take care of payments, make sure Horio and his girlfriend get paid, keep track of my deposits, stuff like that."

Sakuno slightly shook her head for a second with a look of disbelief, "Ryoma, that's...I don't..."

Ryoma casually took a bite of his eggs and with a shrug elaborated a bit, "My mom used to do it for me, but when I turned eighteen, she stopped and I've had to do it myself ever since. I hate it."

"But why would you have me do it?"

Ryoma gave another shrug, "You're already added on all my accounts."

Sakuno got a funny look on her face, "You know that already makes me uncomfortable."

Ryoma grimaced. He'd really hoped she'd gotten over that by now.

"It would really help me out."

Sakuno worried her lower lip for a few moments, and Ryoma watched a conflict of emotions flit across her face. Finally she said, "You know, something like this, it's...very... _intimate_ , don't you think? Having me poking around in all your business?"

Finishing his breakfast, Ryoma stood up from his chair. He closed the small distance to Sakuno as she stood up as well, and he quickly wrapped up her small body into his arms, "You...think it's...more intimate that what we already do?"

He watched as she flushed red and pushed her head into his chest in embarrassment and protested,  _"Ryoma."_

He smirked down at the top of her head and wondered if he should say more or not.

"You act like we're married or something," She muttered into his chest, still not looking up at him.

_Oh, now why did she have to make that sound like something like that would be a bad thing?_

"That's right. What's mine is yours," Ryoma said.

She pounded her fist against his chest, "That's exactly what I mean!"

_How much clearer could he be?_

"So if we get married, you'll do it then?"

She pounded his chest again, "Stop it."

Ryoma dropped his chin against the top of her head and spoke quietly down at her, "Stop what?"

"You know."

He did. He knew what she meant.

She just didn't know what he meant.  _One of these days, he was going to say something like that to her and she'd finally realize he wasn't teasing._

"So you'll do this for me?"

She nodded, "I do want to help you with whatever you want."

"Ah,  _my wife,_  so supportive."

"Shut up, Ryoma."

 


	9. Nine - Mine

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Nine - Mine**

* * *

_Present day...in Venice, Before the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships_

Echizen Ryoma's eyes followed the movements of his girlfriend Ryuzaki Sakuno as she puttered about in their Venetian suite. She'd just emerged from a long bath. Wearing nothing but a towel, she was taking her time going through her wardrobe to select an outfit to wear for their flight to Dubai today.

They'd come a long way since they'd first met in Tokyo a couple of months ago. She certainly wouldn't have puttered around in their room wearing nothing but a towel back then. Honestly, he found it strange she was doing it today, but he wasn't one to complain about something like that.

_If she'd remembered what happened last night, it wouldn't be strange at all._

Feeling his frustration rising up in himself again, Ryoma tried to focus on his present enjoyment instead and watched Sakuno putter around some more.

_There would be plenty of time for the other things later._

Unless...she was...pregnant. He winced at the thought of it. What would he tell her if that happened since she didn't seem to remember? She'd probably try to kill him, wouldn't she? She would definitely leave him, wouldn't she?

His chest tightened in pain at the thought of her getting so angry she would leave him. _He absolutely couldn't let that happen._

Sakuno's ridiculously long wavy brown hair caught his attention then, and he was overcome with a strong sense of déjà vu. She'd left her hair down, which she rarely ever did and it rippled down her back in soft waves. His hand twitched in response, aching to brush his fingers through the long strands of softness.

Sakuno was biting her lower lip as she held two articles of clothing up to the light, carefully focusing her attention on which one she would pick, and that was when it struck him.

He'd forgotten, since it had happened years ago when he'd been eighteen, but  _he'd seen her before._  He was sure of it. There was no mistaking that hair and that expression, and he'd been at the grocery store by the Coliseum when he'd seen her. Wow. He could barely believe it.  _He'd seen Sakuno before_  and he'd been just as strangely drawn to her then as he had been at the Coliseum two months ago.

The memories of seeing her flashed before him. He remembered his desire to ask her out for a date, and then having it all ruined by his manager. He remembered trying to find her, but she had somehow slipped away.

_It had only been a day or two later he'd met Horio, right?_

Watching Sakuno now, looking so much like she had that fateful day four years ago when he'd missed his chance he was flooded with a mess of emotions. At the top of those feelings was his pride in knowing what he knew now. He knew now that  _now_ , she was  _his_  woman. No other man had or would touch her.  _Ever._  If he had to pound that into her to make her understand, so be it, but  _he would make sure of it._

In a fluid motion, Ryoma pushed his hands against the armrests they'd been laying against and rose from his chair. He stalked across the suite to Sakuno, and ran one large hand through her shiny chestnut locks as he spun her around to face him with the other. Before she had a chance to to say a thing, he tilted her head back by pulling her head down through her long hair and kissed her with a ferocity he hadn't kissed her with since her declaration to the world in Melbourne that she would stay by his side always.

She kissed him back willingly. Dropping her clothes on the floor, she wrapped her hands around his shoulders, pulling him closer, just as he knew she would.

_Because...she was his woman._


	10. Ten - Sweets

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Ten - Sweets**

* * *

_Fourteen Years Ago...in Tokyo_

Eight year old Echizen Ryoma stood in the park eyeing the candy stand across the street with interest. The bright labels of various flavors of bubble gum, chocolates, gummies, hard candies, chewy candies and other sorts of sweets flashed at him enticingly as the young girl his age making her selections moved back and forth in front of them.

The girl had long brown twin braids with purple flower clips on the ends, and the desire to go up to her and yank on one of the long strands was almost as powerful as his desire to get candy.

The problem was, his parents had told him in no uncertain terms not to leave the park.

So he stood there, watching the girl, eyeing the candy, eyeing her braids and wondering in all seriousness if he would get more satisfaction from pulling her braids or popping a piece of chocolate in his mouth.

Ryoma turned his head back in the direction of the park to see his parents talking with an older lady. They were definitely not watching him. Maybe, in the end, he could have both.

He ran quickly across the street, grabbing a couple of small coins from his overall's pocket as he approached the stand. As the girl was about to pay for her purchase, he jumped in front of her and thrust his coins at the man behind the cash register and took the candy from the girl's hand with a grin.

The girl instantly turned to him, her eyes flashing, "That's  _my_  candy!"

Ryoma tore the wrapper off one of the candies and popped it into his mouth as he skipped back away from her a couple of steps.

"Oh yeah?" He challenged and then flashed the girl the melting candy inside his mouth.

Her eyes widened and she stomped her foot in outrage and demanded, "That was the last piece he had of the strawberry choco!  _You give it back!"_

Ryoma had grinned at her attention and continued to skip backwards a few steps ahead of her as she advanced on him. Finally, the girl broke into a run, and Ryoma spun on his toes, rushing ahead of her. He crossed the street, going back into the park, and dodged past the bushes on the outskirt of the park. Turning his head back, he saw that the girl was gone and was a bit disappointed. He stopped running and looked around for her and a second later slammed into the ground, face first.

The girl was on top of him! She was yelling about her strawberry choco candy as she struggled to move him.

Finally, he found himself laying on his back, the girl sitting on his chest, her face flushed red, her expression furious.

"You stupid boy! I hate you!" She said as her hands grasped onto his jaw. She wedged his mouth open and a second later he felt her fingers in his mouth!

"WHAA OO OONG?" He tried to say around her fingers digging through his mouth for her chocolate.  _What kind of a girl would go so far for a candy?_

He licked at her fingers with his tongue, trying to gross her out so she would get her hand out of his mouth, to no avail. The girl was determined to have her chocolate back.

"EWWW! Stop! That's soooo gross!" She protested as they continued to struggle.

After a few seconds of struggle, Ryoma decided he'd had quite enough of this game. Grabbing onto the girl's arms he pushed her over and changed their positions.

As she had screamed out in protest and her hand had left his mouth with a trail of chocolaty saliva he took a last suck on the sweet candy. Then closing the distances of their faces, he placed his lips slightly against hers and pushed the chocolate into her mouth with his tongue.

She choked for a second in surprise and sat up, pushing him away with her sticky chocolate hand, but started to suck on the candy none the less.

"All you had to do was ask nicely," Ryoma deadpanned.

The girl made a sound of disgust, "I can't believe you just kissed me!"

"I did  _not!"_  Ryoma quickly denied.

"RYOOOOOMA!"

Both of their head's turned at the call and Ryoma quickly shot to his feet, knowing the call from his mother probably meant it was time to go. He dropped the rest of the candies into the girl's lap and then for good measure he leaned over her, grabbed one of her braids and pulled down on it as hard as he could.

The girl screamed and glared at him again, "Don't pull my hair!"

He laughed wickedly and instantly wanted to tug on her other braid.

"RYOOOOOMA!" His mother yelled out again.

_Time to go._

He gave the girl one last look and then ran in the direction his parents were in.

"Ryoma! Where did you go?" His mother scolded.

"Nowhere."

His father had a goofy grin on his face and he placed the large palm of his hand down on Ryoma's head. At the weight of his father's hand, Ryoma instantly tried to remove it.

"Did you get to see your wife?" His dad asked as they struggled over his hand on Ryoma's head.

Ryoma stopped trying to remove his father's hand for a second and flushed.  _What did he mean? Had his dad seen him kissing that girl with the long brown braids?_

His dad chuckled, "Ah, you did. Cute little Sakuno-chan. How is she doing? Did you give her a kiss? You haven't seen her for a few years, you know."

Ryoma had no idea what his father was talking about and promptly told him thus, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

_He didn't even know any girls in Japan before today, did he?_

Not like he really knew that girl either. She just had long brown braids he couldn't seem to resist and looked kind-of cute when she was angry.

"Ah, Rinko, our son claims he has already forgotten about his wife. We must punish him with western food for dinner."

_"DAD!"_


	11. Eleven - Prize

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Eleven - Prize**

* * *

_Eight Years Ago...in Tokyo_

Bored, fourteen year old Echizen Ryoma wandered around his local neighborhood in Tokyo. Well, that is the local neighborhood of his family's temple there in the city. They only visited their home country Japan every 2-3 years or so since they'd moved to the USA, but he still kind of felt like it was his local neighborhood, since they owned the house there and all. He liked Japan, and usually he found himself rather occupied and busy when they would visit, but this time he was feeling a bit melancholy.

He'd decided to wander around the neighborhood and see where it got him. Anything was better than staying in the temple since his old man was there and his old man had been on a  _mission_  lately to  _drive him crazy._ He'd won the Junior's division of the US Open a few months ago, and now his father was training him up for all the other tournaments, with the goal of getting him into the adults division by the time he was sixteen, in a little over a year.

_It was a lot of pressure._

He loved tennis, and he'd known since as far back as he could remember that his dream was to become the world champion, but sometimes...

His thoughts paused as he took in the sight of a local tennis court. Without even thinking much about it, he wandered over to the area to check out what kind of street games happened in Japan. Reaching the outer gates, he was surprised to find a rather large group of boys his age, surrounding a girl slumped on the ground on her knees with hundreds of tennis balls scattered all around her. She was meticulously picking up one ball after another, looking at them, and then placing them back on the ground.

He took in the girl's long brown braids and weepy eyes. Wait. Weepy?  _Were those boys bullying that girl?_

Taking a step closer, he caught the conversation...

"Stop it already!" One of the boys said.

"How long do you plan to do this?" One of the other boys said.

Keeping quiet, the girl continued to determinedly pick up one ball after another, look at it, and place it back on the ground of the court.

_She must have a marked ball lost in that mess..._

"Just give it up and go home. You're interfering with our practice."

_Hmm...none of his business._

Ryoma turned to walk away, and then reluctantly swiveled back to the commotion.

_Still...he couldn't let them get away with treating her that way could he? After all, they were making a bad name for tennis players..._

Standing there in the trees, Ryoma put his bag on the ground. Pulling his racquet and a ball out he gazed for a second at the group on the other side of the fence.

"Please, wait. I just need a bit more time. Just a bit..." The girl finally pleaded.

"Shut up! I'm telling you to leave!"

_Hmm._

Ryoma took aim and hit the ball through the small tear in the chain link fence. He watched in satisfaction as it smacked into the face of his intended target; the boy that had just yelled at the braided girl to shut up.

The boy through the fence stumbled slightly before following the trajectory of the ball and giving Ryoma a shocked look. The girl with the braids looked up at him and flushed red.

Ryoma smirked towards the crowd, "Sorry about that, but my ball went in."

Ryoma could hear the murmuring of the boys about his shot through the fence as he began approaching the court. Stepping in through the gate, he stopped next to the girl on the ground and stared hard at all the tennis balls surrounding her.

"Whose permission did you get to enter our court?" The guy he'd hit asked, while still holding his swollen cheek.

Ryoma ignored him and instead looked down at the girl with the long braided hair, "Did you mark your ball?"

The girl looked up at him and gave him a defeated look. "I did, but..." She gestured helplessly at the tennis balls surrounding her.

Ryoma glanced at the hundreds of balls scattered on the court, his mind racing on what to do next.

_There's no end in sight._

"Are you listening?" The guy with the swollen cheek asked. "Stop fooling around kid. You're hitting people in the face. You better apologize like your life depended on it!"

Ryoma gave the ground a mischievous grin and taunted, "Ahh, did it hurt? Can you guys help look for the ball too?"

"You find it yourself! That's not an apologetic attitude!" The guy protested.

_Obviously._

One of the other boys approached the boy that was yelling at them and said, "There's about 300 balls lying around. It won't interfere with our practice, so go ahead and look for it."

"It's that girl over there that knocked over the basket," Another boy added.

"I DID NOT!" The girl quickly protested from the ground.

_They were definitely bullying this girl..._

"It's just as I thought," Ryoma stated, looking back down at the girl. She looked up at him, her eyes puzzled.

He turned and looked back at the group of boys again, "How about this? 10 balls a person. I'll quit our ball search if I lose. But, if you guys lose, then you each have to search for 10 balls."

_This should be fun..._

The girl stood up then, and looked at the ground forlornly as the boys surrounding them gave Ryoma looks of surprise.

"What did you say?" The guy he'd hit finally asked.

Ryoma rested his red racquet against his shoulder and smirked, "A game. How about it? 10 balls per person?"

The boy looked around the whole group and asked, "Do you plan to face 30 people?"

"Is this guy stupid?" The boy asked that had given his permission for them to stay.

"It sounds fun," The boy he'd hit said before he burst out into laughter.

Ryoma shot the boy a knowing smirk and the boy stopped laughing. Getting a serious look on his face he said, "If you can actually do that, we'll forget about checking and  _give_  you all the balls."

Ryoma held back a smile.

_He was about to come up on a whole ton of free tennis balls..._

"Okay, everyone gather up," One of the older boys called out to the group. All the boys in the area crowded in around Ryoma and the girl with the long brown braids, who moved in closer to his side.

Ryoma smirked and asked, "So, who's going to go first?"

As the boys huddled up for a few minutes to plan out their challenge, Ryoma moved over to the other court that wasn't scattered with tennis balls. The girl with the long hair followed behind.

"Ah...thank you for your help, but you don't have to do all this," She said.

Ryoma glanced back at her and shrugged, "It's good training."

"It's going to take a long time, right? Do you really think you can do this?" The girl asked nervously.

Ryoma rolled his eyes.

_She had no idea._

"No problem."

_She was going to tell him not to bother now, wasn't she? Girls are annoying like that..._

The girl clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth for a second. Then she shot him a sweet smile and flushed as she said, "Well then... _I'll be cheering for you."_

Ryoma looked at the girl hard for a second.

_She was pretty cool._

"I'll go first," One of the boys announced.

Ryoma quickly pounded through ten balls. Tapping his racquet against his shoulder he called out, "Next."

"I'll go next," One of the boys announced.

Ryoma quickly defeated the second challenger and was positive the boys were starting to feel a bit worried about their deal now. Instead of enjoying their panicked looks, he glanced over at the girl with the long brown braids standing against the fence.

She was smiling at him. Even her eyes were smiling at him. She was practically glowing. It made him feel like a hero, like a million bucks, like the universe was his for the taking like...well...showing off...it simply had never felt so  _damn good._

Ryoma quickly defeated four more of the boys. Now, the team he was playing against were beginning to look less panicked and more terrified.

_Just the way he liked it..._

One of the boys stepped out of the crowd with a confident smile on his face, "Okay, I'm next."

His teammates cheered for him, their confidence seeming to recover a bit.

_Maybe this one was strong?_

The boy sent a fast serve across the net, and Ryoma easily returned it.

_Was that it?_

He took in the looks of surprise on the faces of all the boys and held back from shaking his head in disappointment.

_Mada mada dane._

"Was that a warm up?" Ryoma taunted.

Visibly angered, the boy sent nine more angry serves his way. Ryoma returned them all, and called out, "Next."

_Well, at least that guy finally got him to break a sweat._

Ryoma moved his cap a bit as the boy across the court dropped his racquet. The crowd began to murmur.

Ryoma glanced back at the girl glowing at him on the other side of the fence.

_After he got her ball back...maybe they could...go...celebrate or something..._

"Can the next person come out quickly? I've got 22 more opponents left."

As Ryoma continued to defeat one after another after another of the remaining challengers, the sun continued to make it's way across the sky, moving into the late afternoon. Finally, he finished the last of the 30 opponents and with a satisfied grin, he looked for the girl he'd done it all for, fully expecting to bask in her radiant smile of approval and victory.

Ryoma froze for a second when she wasn't there. He shifted his head around slightly, trying to keep it from being obvious that he was looking for her.

"Your girlfriend left a while ago," One of the younger boys that was gathering up his prized balls called over to him.

Ryoma gave a shrug, playing it off like he was expecting it all along.

_Girlfriend. Heh. That would be the day..._

Making his way across the court, he received the basket filled with balls. He walked back through the trees, paused to retrieve his tennis bag he'd discarded there earlier and retraced his route back home.

_So much for celebrating. So much for the hero's reward. Wasn't he supposed to at least get a kiss or something? _ _Why did she leave?___

"Ah Seishounen! How was your day? Did you meet any cute girls?" His father greeted at the doorway.

Ryoma closed his eyes for a moment.

_If his old man only knew..._

He deposited the basket of tennis balls down on the entryway, "Here."

"What's this?" His father asked.

"My prize."

"Your prize for what?"

_Saving a girl from bullies._

Ryoma shrugged, "Street tennis."

 


	12. Twelve - Hero's Kiss

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Twelve - Hero's Kiss**

* * *

_Eight Years Ago...in Tokyo_

Fourteen year old Ryuzaki Sakuno rushed through Tokyo Narita airport after her grandmother. If they didn't hurry up, Tezuka-senpai was going to miss his flight to Germany!

_They couldn't afford any of her usual clumsiness right now!_

"Hurry up, Sakuno!" Ryuzaki Sumire called back to her granddaughter, as she continued to rush behind her former student.

They had planned the timing accordingly, but sadly many of the streets had been shut down due to a water main burst in the city. Trying to figure out their new route, and get through it with the extra traffic had put them behind schedule. Tezuka Kunimitsu was leaving Japan for a long time, and he deserved a better send off than the rushed one he was currently getting. Sakuno felt really horrible about the whole mess. If only she had been a better navigator.

At her grandmother's call, Sakuno looked down at her feet and scurried along faster, hoping they wouldn't lag behind simply on her account.

_She could do this without tripping and falling!_

Sakuno glanced up at the large departures board in the terminal to look for Tezuka-senpai's flight and promptly ran into someone. Objects went scattering across the terminal's glossy hard floor.

_OH NO._

"I'm so sorry!" Sakuno immediately apologized as she frantically began picking up everything that had fallen on the ground, both hers and the other persons.

Standing up, she met the face of the victim of her klutz attack and froze in shock.

_It was him. The tennis prince._

She felt her face heat to about 200 degrees, feeling that he would surely be so angry with her. He'd saved her from those bullies and she'd left him.  _It was mortifying._  She felt like she must seem like the most ungrateful damsel in distress to ever walk the planet.

Instead the boy stood there, staring at her in surprise, his mouth slightly open, his eyes wide and alert.

_Say something!_

"It's you," The boy said.

Sakuno finally exclaimed in surprise, "M-my-my  _savior!"_

At her outburst, the boy smirked at her knowingly.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry about the other day, I didn't want to leave you. You see? I was called home by my grandma and I just..." She stopped blabbing as the boy placed his hands over hers and began to sort out the mess of their belongings.

"W-w-wha...?" Sakuno sputtered at the feel of his warm hands moving against hers and watched them dumbly as her heart raced.

_He...he was touching her!_

Finishing the task the boy asked, "Is that everything?"

Sakuno looked back up at him and was caught in the warm steady gaze of his hazel eyes.

_No...that isn't everything. Thank you for saving me. What's your name? _How old are you?_ Where do you live? What school do you go to? Can I watch you play tennis some more soon? Can I do something for you to thank you for saving me?_

She couldn't believe it was him. She'd never thought she'd see him again.

"Sakuno! What are you doing? We're going to be late!" Sumire shouted across the way.

Sakuno looked back over her shoulder at her grandmother. She had her arms crossed and was giving Sakuno a strange look. She looked back at the boy standing in front of her.

"I have to go again," She said apologetically.

The boy closed his eyes for a second and then said, "So go."

Sakuno frowned.

_It wasn't supposed to be like this!_

She shook her head for a second and then quickly leaned towards the boy, placed a soft kiss against his cheek and whispered, " _Thank you..._ for saving me."

Before she had a chance to get embarrassed she spun around and began rushing towards her grandmother again.

_Had she really just kissed a boy? Eeeek!_

"Oi!" The boy called out after her.

Only a few feet away, Sakuno spun around, blushing fully.

The boy gave her a mischievous grin, "Mada mada dane. Heroes are supposed to get  _real kisses_. You know...on the lips."

Sakuno felt her blush spread as her whole body got hot with embarrassment at his words.

_Was he serious?_

"I-I...next time!" She promised before she turned again and rushed to meet up with her grandmother.

As the two speed walked through the airport trailing behind Tezuka Kunimitsu and his luggage, Ryuzaki Sumire asked her granddaughter, "Was that Ryoma you were talking to?"

Sakuno gave her grandmother a puzzled look, "Eh? Who's Ryoma?"

Sumire made a face of disbelief, "You don't remember?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...after reading everybody's reviews about drabble #11, I realized a couple of things.
> 
> #1 - I should have reminded you all that drabble #11 was based on PoT episode #37.
> 
> #2 - I probably should have let you all know that there was going to be a continuation. (Or two, or actually I think I've written out about three of them so far now.)


	13. Thirteen - Discovered

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

* * *

**Thirteen - Discovered**

* * *

_Present Day...in New York City_

Echizen Rinko walked briskly down the bustling streets of lower Manhattan on a mission. There was so much she needed to get done that day she was feeling overwhelmed with stress. Stopping at a red light waiting for the crosswalk to change green, she gave the Starbucks at the corner a longing look. Sadly, she didn't have time for the good stuff today. As the light changed green, she joined in with the masses crossing the street and resumed her frantic pace towards her high-rise legal offices.

She checked her watch again as she picked up her pace hoping she would make it into her office with enough time to review the new notes she'd written up on her case last night. Just one more block to go. As was her custom each morning she gave the newsstand located on the ground level of her building a glance for anything in the press on her son, and saw magazine after magazine cover splashed with a picture of Ryoma and Sakuno kissing. Moving past the newsstand she made her way to the elevator lobby, checked her cell phone as she pushed the elevator call button and then  _froze._

Echizen Rinko's eyes shifted back in the direction of the newsstand. Slowly, she stepped away from the elevator lobby and headed back towards the glossy magazine covers she had just glanced at. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she was once again was flooded with images of her all grown up son kissing his now also all grown up fiancée. Ryuzaki Sakuno-chan!

_Oh my..._

Who would have...? How could she have not known...? How did this happen...?

After Ryoma had been in the States for about a year she had been certain he'd forgotten about his little wife back in Japan, but apparently... _he hadn't forgotten her at all._

_Those sneaky little children. What had they been up to all these years? Fooling them into thinking they had no interest in the opposite gender when all along they'd been..._

Then she recalled the most recent upset from her son. Just yesterday he'd told Nanjiro he was moving back to Japan. Was it because of Sakuno-chan? Were those crazy love struck kids finally getting married?

She grinned at the glossy magazine covers. Closing the distance to the stand, she swiped one of every magazine that featured her kids on the cover - these would make a great addition to her  _Ryoma x Sakuno_  scrapbooks! Paying the man at the stand she gave him a glowing smile and pointed to the kissing couple on the cover of People, asking, "Do you know what this means?"

The man gave her a strange look and shook his head no just as Rinko had expected him to.

_"It means I'm going to be a grandmother soon!"_


	14. Fourteen - Just Ryoma

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Fourteen - Just Ryoma**

* * *

_Seven Years Forward...in New York City_

Echizen Ryoma was twenty-nine years old when he finally beat his old man.

Not for lack of skill on his part, no in all honestly, he'd known since before he'd gotten married that he could have beat him, but for whatever reason, they'd put it off. He'd actually known it for certain, that fateful day in Australia when his old man had suddenly showed up to ask when he was getting married.

At the time of course, he hadn't even remembered that Sakuno and he had been as good as engaged from when they'd been toddlers. There had just been this moment, this moment when he'd realized somehow that everything in his life had just shifted and that if they played a match seriously, that he would beat his old man.

That day though, his old man had put it off, and Ryoma never understood why until it finally happened, seven years later.

It was spring, and they were making their usual visit to their home in New York between the Sony Ericsson Open Miami and the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. What was special that year was that they were expecting.

Ryoma had always known he'd eventually want to have children. He'd always pictured himself spending his years after retirement teaching however many brats he'd have how to play the epic tennis that ran through his bloodline. After they'd gotten married, Sakuno hadn't been anxious to have children, and he hadn't really cared one way or another, though he'd been a little hesitant to add even more to his traveling entourage. He'd shaken up the tennis scene enough by going from Mr. Zero in Romance to Mr. I Fooled You All Cuz I've Been Engaged Since I was a Kid.

Seven years later though, his wife was just starting to show that their lives were about to change again. She'd just finished her first trimester and they'd just started sharing their happy news.

His parents had been thrilled, as expected, and they'd planned in advance to spend some extra time in New York so his mother could smother his wife in all sorts of baby talk and baby plans and baby blah blah blah. They had known of course... _that mom would demand it._

His old man on the other hand, had showed up early the next morning with a tennis racquet and somehow, without a word, Ryoma had known.

_It was finally time._

Their match, despite his old man approaching 50 had been fairly brutal. Ryoma had felt as if it had dragged on and flown by too quickly all at the same time. At times, he'd felt like he was going easy on his old man, other times, he'd felt like he was simply falling into his old man's old tricks, like he was letting him beat him. By the end, they both knew though, without a doubt, what had really happened.

There'd been a passing.

A passing of the torch.

As the two men had slouched against the bench on the side of the court Nanjiro turned to his son and said, "So, old man, how does it feel?"

Ryoma scoffed,  _"Old man?_  Don't you dare call  _me_   _old man_."

Nanjiro had laughed gleefully, the ever amused by his child father that he was, "I can't call you young man anymore, there's a new one coming, isn't there?"

Ryoma smirked at the tennis court, "Mada mada dane, old man. It's Ryoma.  _I'm only just Ryoma."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So inspiration for this one goes to sweetpea999 who told me "you need to write about Sakuno getting preggo in her eggo."


	15. Fifteen - Remembrance

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Fifteen - Remembrance**

* * *

_Six Months Forward...in Tokyo_

Twenty-two year old Echizen Ryoma slouched in a waiting area chair of Tokyo Narita airport. They'd just arrived back at Haneda airport about an hour ago from Shanghai where they'd been last week for the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Ryoma was tired as anything, but before they could head home they had to hang out here at Narita for his parents to fly in from New York. They'd become impatient to spend some time with him and his new wife, so Ryoma had simply told them if it was that big of deal to just fly to Tokyo, they'd have a week in town between Shanghai and the Swiss Indoors Basel tournament in Switzerland next week.

Sakuno had scurried off to get them "some pontas" and not knowing what else to do, Ryoma had slumped onto a nearby chair. A few minutes passed before a whip of brown braids caught his eye, and he looked up just in time to catch his wife approaching with their pontas and he about fell out of his chair in surprise at the memories that suddenly flooded into his mind.

He'd completely forgotten all about it, but...

Reaching Ryoma, Sakuno noticed something was off. She leaned over his slouched form putting a gentle hand against his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

Ryoma looked at his wife with narrowed eyes and accused, "You kissed me."

Sakuno made a face of disbelief, and said very slowly as if reasoning with a young child, "Ryoma. I kiss you all the time. You're my husband."

Ryoma shook his head, " _You kissed me."_

Sakuno slumped into the chair next to her husband, tired beyond all reason from their travel, and wondering  _what in the world_  he was getting at. She knew well enough by now that when he was like this, there was no point in trying to figure him out, so she just agreed, "Okay Ryoma. I kissed you."

Ryoma shook his head, "Sakuno. You don't remember it, do you?"

_That_ got her attention.  _It couldn't be that there was really something else, was there?_

"I thought I remembered everything."

It had become a bit of a project for them over the past six months, piecing together their long lost memories of each other. Growing up together, the separation, Ryoma had even filled her in on a time he'd remembered previously when he'd seen her buying groceries and hadn't been able to talk to her.

Ryoma smirked knowingly at his wife. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten this. Oh, but this,  _this was a good one all right._ Sakuno was going to freak out.

_It was going to be awesome._

"You told me you never kissed before, but you  _definitely_  kissed me," He teased.

Sakuno started to look irritated, "Yes, well, there was plenty of kissing before you left Japan when we were little. What's your point?"

Ryoma grinned mischievously, "When I was fourteen, we were visiting and there was this girl being bullied over her tennis ball at the local courts."

Sakuno gasped, "Wait. I remember that! Wait! Are you saying... _it was you_ that saved me? Are you sure?"

Ryoma gave a nod, "Then...you kissed me."

Sakuno bit her lip for a second as she replayed her memories of that day eight years ago, "No, no, I had to leave, I didn't even get to thank  _my savior_. There was  _definitely_ no kissing. Some other girl kissed you while you were here in Tokyo?  _Now_  you're just remembering it?"

Ryoma choked back a guffaw as his wife's face started to look highly annoyed at the thought of some other fourteen year old girl kissing him, "Mada mada dane. It was a few days later, right here - at Narita. I just remembered it when I saw you walking towards me."

Sakuno's head tipped to the side a bit as she thought about it, "Here? At Narita? I don't know, I didn't come much, but there was that time when Tezuka-senpai,  _OH."_  Giving her husband an irritated look she exclaimed, "I completely forgot that, but - HEY! That! That doesn't even count! It was on the cheek!"

"Un. I told you that at the time too," Ryoma teased.

_He's way too pleased with himself._

Sakuno flushed with embarrassed pleasure. To think! She'd even kissed him once before when they'd been middle school kids.  _She really hadn't ever been able to resist him..._

"Hmmm...didn't I promise...?"

Ryoma gave his wife a sly grin as she leaned forward towards him.

_He was finally going to collect on that hero's kiss!_

Ryoma closed his eyes in anticipation, only to have a soft brush of hair touch his lips instead as his wife stood up and yelled out, "Mom! Dad! We're over here!"

Ryoma opened his eyes and took in Sakuno's long brown braid as it swung back and forth in front of him at her waving. His hand reached out and grasped the end, giving his wife's hair a tug of irritation.

_That tease..._

"Ryoma!" She quickly scolded as she pulled her hair out of his hand.

He grinned and turned his head to see his parents approaching.

"Sakuno!" Rinko exclaimed as she greeted her daughter in law with a hug and a kiss. "It's so good to finally see you again!"

 


	16. Sixteen - Crazy Kids

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Sixteen - Crazy Kids**

* * *

_Present Day...in New York City_

Echizen Rinko rang her husband up during her extremely brief lunch break.

"Ah, Rinko. I thought you were super busy today?" Nanjiro greeted his wife.

"I am, but have you seen today's magazines?"

"Hmmm? No. The young man on them or something?" Nanjiro asked, his interest in the topic obviously passive.

"Oh he's on them all right. Front cover.  _Kissing his wife."_

Rinko heard a clanking noise with her husband's raucous laughter in the background. After moment Nanjiro was back on the phone, "Sorry, I dropped the phone. So you mean that old hag's granddaughter Ryuzaki Sakuno-chan, right?"

"Who else could I mean? Ryoma's never shown an interest in any other female in his whole life!"

"Well, well, well, that explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"Nanjiro! I'm so excited! We've been waiting for this day forever. I was starting to worry it would never come!"

"Those crazy kids. How did Sakuno-chan fool the old hag that she wasn't seeing Ryoma all these years? You know they had to have been meeting in Tokyo."

"Well, there was that one time when they were teenagers that she mentioned she thought she'd seen them kissing at the airport."

Nanjiro let out a snort of amusement, "We never should have doubted they would stay together."

"Call Ryoma up for me and find out when they're getting married, would you?"

"It's so cute how you say that like he'll tell me."

"That child of ours...well let's give it a day or so and see what Ryoma has Horio-kun tell the press. According to these magazines, Horio-kun hasn't made an official statement yet. Maybe it's already a done deal?"

"Maybe he'll wait until he's knocked her up?"

"Nanjiro! We raised our son better than that!"

Rinko glared at her phone as her husband laughed through it and then hung up on him. She shook her head.

_Those crazy kids._


	17. Seventeen - Hereditary

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Seventeen - Hereditary**

* * *

_Ten Years Forward...Flying Somewhere Over Canada_

Thirty-two year old Echizen Ryoma lounged on the sofa in his Gulfstream jet. They were on their way to his twentieth US Open in New York City and oh, what a difference from his first US Open.

His first US Open, he'd been twelve and in the junior's division. It would be four years after that before he entered the regular adults competition, and won it. He'd won it every year since then, and he was still dominating the tennis scene, sixteen years after going pro.

He'd been asked over the years when he would retire. It had started ten years ago at twenty-two when his wife had first started traveling with him. Of course, at first she'd only been his girlfriend, but it hadn't taken them very long to...figure things out.

Next had been when he'd been twenty-six and he'd reached the 10 year mark of his career. Many speculated that he'd hit his peak and would be forced to retire.

_That hadn't happened._

After that had been when he was twenty-nine and they'd been expecting their first child. That had been the first time he'd actually considered it, but his wife had been adamant that if he wasn't ready to retire that it was good for them to all travel as a family for his tournaments.

Oh, having a baby with them had definitely changed things though. Echizen Masaru had entered the world and disrupted everything about his life. Sakuno hadn't slept as much, and he'd slept more during the day to make up for the lack of sleep at night from the crying baby. There were a lot more stops everywhere they went for diaper changes, feedings, nap times and all sorts of other unmentionables, but despite it all, they'd stuck with tennis.

It was almost three years since then, but Ryoma still wasn't sure what he thought about all that.

Make no mistake, he loved his son. He just didn't really get him yet. What kind of a person would he be? Would he be more like Sakuno or more like him? Or would he be a nice blend of both? Would he pick up any of the annoying habits of his manager or his manager's wife since they were always traveling around with them?

Ryoma just didn't know...

Masaru ran across the plane to his father, a full size adult tennis racquet grasped in his arms. Catching his father's hazel eyes with his own identical ones, the left corner of Masaru's mouth quirked up in a smirk.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow in interest.

_This kid of his...he had a nice smirk._

"Dad!" Masaru exclaimed as he thrust the racquet towards his father.

"Ah, are you going to be coming after me, Masaru?"

Masaru smirked again.

_Hmmm. Maybe it was finally time to retire._


	18. Eighteen - Return

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Eighteen - Return**

* * *

_Eight Years Ago...in Tokyo_

Fourteen year old Ryuzaki Sakuno slumped onto her bed. It had been...Such. A. Long. Day. She was so happy to be back home in the comfort of her bedroom.

It had been quite an adventurous day too. They'd been off to drop off Tezuka-senpai at the airport since he was moving to Germany to go play tennis professionally. It was exciting that she'd been able to tag along for the send off, and that morning as they'd all piled up in the car, they'd had no idea what they'd be in for.

Traffic. Terrible, terrible traffic. Half way to Narita, a water main had broken, taking out block after block of the city streets. It had taken them an extra hour at least to make their way around it through all the extra cars and foot traffic as a result the subways also being shut down from the flooding water.

Oh, but the big adventure had actually been inside the airport, when she'd ran into the tennis prince that had saved her the other day from the bullies.

Had she really kissed him?

Had he really told her she should have kissed him on the lips?

She rolled onto her stomach and squealed for a moment into her pillow, wondering how in the world she'd ever done such a thing. She didn't even like boys!  _So what was it about that boy?_

As her thoughts spun, she noticed something was off. Ouch. It was hard, and it was pushing into her hip. Rolling over slightly to her side she smoothed her hand across her mattress, finding nothing. She looked down then, and noticed a lump in her skirt's pocket.

_What? How had she missed this being in her pocket?_

Quickly she removed the item and then gazed at it in shock.

_It...it was her missing tennis ball!_

There was no mistaking it. It had her drawing of the boy wearing the hat on it that she'd marked all her balls with to remind her of the inspiration she'd had to learn tennis back at the start of junior high.

_From that other tennis prince that had winked at her after he saved her from those bullies on the train..._

But how had she got her ball back?

She flushed as she realized...

_That boy_  must have put it into her pocket when she'd kissed him.

How sneaky.

She hugged her tennis ball to her chest and squealed again into her pillow. That meant he'd kept it with him all this time in case he would run into her again! That was too cute!

_Maybe there were some boys out there like her imaginary childhood fiancé Ryo-kun after all._

When she was...ready to get married and start dating that is.

Maybe she'd even kiss him for real on the lips, like she'd promised...

...if she ever saw him again.

 


	19. Nineteen - Our Secret

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Nineteen - Our Secret**

* * *

_Present Day...in Indian Wells, California_

Echizen Sakuno relaxed into the warm bubble bath of their hotel suite in California. When Ryoma had told her they'd be in California she'd envisioned Hollywood, and The Golden Gate Bridge, not a big desert, but nevertheless, here they were in Indian Wells. For March, the weather was perfect; the skies were clear, the sun was warm, but not too hot, the breezes were comfortable, and though she wasn't surrounded by movie stars and famous landmarks, she did certainly like California.

_Still...perhaps she could convince Ryoma to take her to Los Angeles after the tournament. She'd always wanted to go there..._

Her thoughts were interrupted as the hotel's bathroom door suddenly burst open.

She looked up and watched her husband enter and flash her a smirk.

She flushed a bit as she said, "Oh, Ryoma. Did you come to join me?"

Ryoma gave her a wicked grin before he reluctantly shook his head no, "I have a press conference in fifteen minutes."

"Oh, that's too bad," Sakuno commented before she flushed red with embarrassment.

_Had she really just said...that? Oh...the things married life were already doing to her!_

Ryoma gave her a long look before he huffed a bit with obvious frustration. "Not enough time," He muttered.

Hearing his comment, Sakuno's heart leapt.

_Oh how she loved this man of hers._

Shaking his head vigorously as if to clear his thoughts, Ryoma held up a local gossip magazine.

Sakuno immediately noticed the larger than life picture of herself on the front page. There was a large red circle surrounding her beautiful engagement ring her husband had bought for her a few days ago in Dubai, U.A.E., and yellow blocked English print commenting on it.

"Oh."

"We're already on the front page, Sakuno."

Sakuno gave a shrug of indifference. After all,  _they'd been expecting it._

Ryoma set the magazine down on the counter and leaned over his wife, "Are you happy?"

Sakuno raised her eyes up and gave her husband a look filled with awe, love, and an obvious deep affection for him. With a cute smile that was made entirely and only for him she said, "Yes."

He smirked then and after giving her lips a quick peck he said, "I need to get out of here before I get in there with you...press conference be damned."

Sakuno giggled excitedly. This new side to Ryoma...she loved it so much!

"They'll understand.  _We are on our honeymoon after all,"_  She teased.

Ryoma, who'd been about to step out of the room, turned back to her, his body framed in the doorway, "Ah, but _they don't know that."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drabble #18 was a continuation of drabbles #11, #12, and drabble #15 connects with drabbles #11 & #12 as well. Sorry if it's a bit confusing, but if you want to read the chronological order, I'd say read #11, then #12 and then #18. :D


	20. Twenty - Date

**For Services Rendered Afterthoughts**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. A collection of extra "scenes" from the For Services Rendered alternate reality fic of mine. Mostly drabbles, some of the past, some of the present story time and some of the future. This isn't complete or incomplete each "chapter" will be a separate self-contained scene that just adds onto FSR...think "bonus features" on a DVD. So I will add little drabbles here as I think them up and write them out. Heh...it will probably be mostly fluff. ...cowers...

I would recommend reading FSR first so you understand the basics of the alternate reality I created in that fanfic. Reading this will also spoil some of that fic if you don't want spoilers.

* * *

**Twenty - Date**

* * *

_Present Day...in Melbourne, Australia_

Echizen Ryoma wasn't usually elated to win a tennis match. It was a pretty much daily occurrence for him, and it had been that way for years. Every once in a while though, he'd get that wonderful feeling of a truly burning rivalry with a fellow tennis player.

Today had been one of those days. The Australian Open semifinals match against his girlfriend's old acquaintance from her school days Toyama Kintaro had easily been his favorite match of the whole tournament, possibly of the whole upcoming tennis year.

And now...he was going to claim his prize.

He'd been planning it out for over a week since he'd known he'd have three days between his semifinals and finals match, and he knew by experience that after the semifinals match was the time for some downtime to gear up for the finals.

He hadn't anticipated their private reconciliation happening before tonight, but since they'd worked things out this afternoon, Ryoma was sure his efforts for tonight would reap even sweeter rewards than he'd originally foreseen. At remembering the torments of the last week and a half he frowned for a moment. Ever since the day before the tournament started when he'd brazenly rubbed his hands down Sakuno's legs in the bathtub she'd been giving him a freeze out when they were in private. Oh, in public she played her role of doting girlfriend perfectly, but from the moment she'd got out of the bath and cut him off from their private intimacies, he'd figured out that  _her private attention_ she'd been giving him _was way more important_ to him than her public.

So...he'd made a plan to get her to end the freeze out.

He'd been hearing tales about it since he'd first participated in the Australian Open, all those years ago when he was seventeen, but previously lacking completely in the romance department he'd always dismissed it.

This year...would be different.

Arriving back at their hotel suite, Ryoma instructed his girlfriend to get ready to go out for the rest of the day. Sakuno had given him a curious look, but prepared herself without question or complaint.

_Yeah...she was kind-of great like that._

Soon enough they were getting into the car he'd instructed Horio to rent for them, and beginning their long drive for their special adventure. Ryoma drove leisurely towards their destination, after some time of driving through the city, they'd driven through a bit of countryside, before the highway had followed the coastline. Upon seeing the ocean, Sakuno's eyes had lit up with excitement and she'd began to barrage him with questions about where they were going. Ryoma had simply shook his head and told her it was a secret.

They parked their rental car and Sakuno paused at the odd sign in the parking lot, her head tilted to the side, a confused yet curious expression on her face.

The sign was in English, so Ryoma wondered if she really understood it, though he supposed even seeing the picture was enough to give someone pause.

The sign read simply:

_please_

check under

your cars

for Penguins

_thank-you_

Below the words was a simple depiction of a car with a little penguin underneath it.

Ryoma almost laughed as Sakuno turned her puzzled expression from the sign to him and then back to the sign. With his satisfied smirk in place, he approached his girlfriend, grasped her hand and tugged her forwards. As they approached the visitor's center building a women seemingly fairly close to their age approached them with a wide grin.

"Mr. Echizen. Miss Ryuzaki. Welcome to the penguin parade. I'm Sarah, your private ranger for the night. If you want to follow me, I'll take you to our private viewing area. We have a bit of time before the penguins arrive for the evening."

Sakuno blinked in confusion at the English greeting, while Ryoma gave the woman a nod of thanks.

The woman turned and began walking away from the visitor's center towards the beach beyond.

"Ryoma," Sakuno began quietly as they followed along behind the park ranger, "Did she just say penguin?"

The corner of Ryoma's mouth tilted up, but he didn't answer.

Excited and frustrated with her lack of understanding and her companion's lack of response, Sakuno tugged down on Ryoma's hand that was entwined with her own, "Ryoma! Did she say penguin?"

At her insistence, Ryoma snickered a bit in mischievous glee.

Sakuno rolled her eyes, but she was no dummy. She was pretty sure from the sign she'd seen in the parking lot, the strange English greeting she'd just received, and Ryoma's lack of explanation that there was something wonderful that probably had to do with penguins in store for her that evening. She was starting to feel extremely excited.

_She'd had no idea there were penguins in Australia._  If there were...how had she missed them on her tourist activities exploration on the computer? Was it because they were about an hour away from Melbourne?

Within a few minutes, Sarah had led them down to the beach and had spread out warm blankets on the cool sand and handed the two of them binoculars.

As they sat down, Ryoma turned towards Sarah for a moment and said in English, "My girlfriend's English is not very good, so I will need time to translate most of what you have to say for her."

Sakuno understood the first part of Ryoma's words about her not knowing English very well and thusly embarrassed, she looked away towards the drooping sun with uneasiness.

_Was it really necessary for him to point out her flaws to others?_

Sarah on the other hand, gave a nod of understanding in her desperate efforts to keep up her cool at being the personal guide for the evening of the super famous sexy tennis star and his made famous overnight simply by dating him girlfriend. The girl, Sakuno Ryuzaki seemed just as sweet as she appeared to be in every picture or video coverage she'd seen of her. Ryoma Echizen the tennis prince on the other hand, was overwhelming. From the moment she'd observed him step out of his car in the parking lot the reasons why he'd been named sexiest man alive had been quiet manifest to her. His intoxicating presence was making her feel beyond nervous.

_Sakuno Ryuzaki was such a lucky woman._

Ryoma had taken every care it seemed, to plan the perfect date for his girlfriend. Sarah knew it all first hand, as she'd been the one to take his call, make the booking and discuss his plans. It was to be a secret for Sakuno that she was going to see the little six inch penguins there on the beach that night. With the sun setting, the beautiful ocean, and the cutest little creatures on the planet that were due any minute now to start parading past their feet, Sarah was impressed at how romantic the man that people magazine had bashed repeatedly about having no love life was with his girlfriend.

_Maybe the two had been dating for ages, and he'd been keeping Sakuno a secret to the rest of the world?_

Sarah desperately wanted to ask. Her curiosity at the couple's relationship was enormous, but she knew if she so much as opened her mouth to ask such a thing the wrath of Ryoma would be massive and she'd possibly lose her job.

_If only his sweet girlfriend understood English. Surely, she would tell her..._

Sarah watched as Ryoma's fingers made soft drifts along Sakuno's back as Sakuno watched the horizon. It really was rather relaxing. It was nice to be away from the crowds for a night as well.

Sarah's eyes drifted towards the water, looking for the tell-tale signs of the arrival of the little penguins in the shallows. Sure enough she caught the first of little ones beginning to wash ashore just as Sakuno let out a squeal of excited delight.

Sakuno had spun around on the blanket to grasp onto her boyfriend.

"Ryoma! It's penguins! THEY'RE SO CUTE! How did you! EEEEEKKKKK!"

Sarah didn't understand the quickly spoken Japanese words, but the excitement she witnessed by the Japanese woman was a sight she'd witnessed many a times...or rather every night for as long as she'd been working there at Phillip Island. It was universal, and no translation was really needed. She knew without a doubt that Sakuno Ryuzaki was thrilled to her bones to see the cute little ones waddling up the shore towards them.

Ryoma grinned at Sakuno as she clutched tightly onto his arm, her body pressed closely against his side, her smile wide, her eyes glowing at the adorable little animals marching determinedly past their toes.

Sakuno looked up at him and their eyes locked for a moment; Sakuno's glowing with happiness, Ryoma's smoldering with unguarded affection for the woman that was now a part of his life.

_Making her happy...it was the best..._

Sakuno blinked in surprise at the look in the famous tennis prodigy's eyes. Her...her... _fake_  boyfriend was looking at her like...like...

_like..._

She peered over his shoulder to their private guide and the empty beach beyond.  _Hmmm._

"Ryoma?" She asked as she met his eyes again.

_He was still looking at her like..._

"Why did you bring me here?"

Her boyfriend's eyes hardened for a moment. Giving her a guarded look he asked, "What? You don't like it?"

Sakuno's eyes widened. She squeezed his arm for emphasis as she exclaimed, "No, no! I LOVE IT."

His eyes warmed again and he gave her a soft smile, "Good."

"It's just...it's like..." Sakuno looked away for a moment as she bit her lip in embarrassment,  _"It's like a date."_

Ryoma gave a grunt of disapproval, "Of course it's a date."

Unable to help it, Sakuno felt her heart burst with happiness at his words.

_Their first date!_

Ryoma moved his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. Sakuno relished in the warmth of his body.

_This was...perfect..._

"Ryoma?"

"Hn."

"The beach is empty."

Ryoma grinned in the darkness at the little penguins at Sakuno's observation.

That's right...their first date...was private... _because it was for them._

_Did she get it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does Australia really have penguins? Yes, penguins really do go to Phillip Island in Australia every night. If you do a Google search for "penguin parade" it will come up with information, pictures and videos. I got the idea for this drabble from my niece that actually went to the penguin parade and saw it first hand. She told me about it and I got the idea of including it as a drabble since it's a Melbourne attraction and the Australian Open is in Melbourne.


End file.
